In the 1970s, psychologist Bruce K. Alexander conducted a ground-breaking experiment known as the Rat Park experiment, which challenged prevailing notions of addiction as solely a result of chemical dependency. The experiment highlighted that addiction is about far more than the drug and that a person, or animal in his studies, is an active component in their interaction with a substance.
In 2020 when the pandemic hit, I lived a real life rat park experiment in my journey to ketamine addiction.
Boredom and isolation
In the experiment, rats were given access to both water and water laced with cocaine. Two cages were set up with the water and cocaine laced water. In cage one (the bare and boring cage) a lone rat chose to entertain itself with the cocaine laced water and would repetitively drink from the drug-laced bottles until they overdosed and died.
Connection and joy
Rat cage two evidenced a very different and unexpected result. The rats housed in cage two enjoyed an enriched environment with other rats to socialise with, toys to keep them engaged, and opportunities for exercise showed significantly lower rates of cocaine consumption compared to rats housed in the isolated and barren cages.
Ketamine my medicine
I knew about the Rat Park Experiment a long time ago when I was working in drug and alcohol services, however, I truly lived this in real life as a human due to the pandemic. Before COVID-19 hit, I was working in an office everyday, next door to my gym where I would train before and after work. Twelve hours of the day I would be out of the house, exercising, working and socialising , my three favourite things to do during the week.
At this time I was also using ketamine to self-medicate my Pre-menstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) symptoms once a month as after years of medical experimentation by the NHS I was left untreated and suffering debilitating symptoms that impacted my work, emotional health and my relationships. Ketamine took all my symptoms away in minutes and kept them away. I will write a blog all about PMDD and how it led to self-medicating ketamine soon.
COVID-19 and ketamine addiction
When COVID-19 hit, everything that kept me sane and healthy was taken away from me. I became isolated from everyone and everything. My house became rat park, but not only way I bored and isolated, I was living in daily stress trying to keep my business alive, and the anxiety of the pandemic.
Ketamine, soon became my daily coping mechanism.
I think it is worth mentioning here that the Office of National Statistics reported that the pandemic had devastating impacts in the UK as we saw the highest levels of drug and alcohol deaths since records began in 1993. I am truly thankful that I am alive and have come through the other end despite it taking 3 years of addiction to find recovery.
"The opposite of addiction is connection." - Johann Hari
The Rat Park experiment highlights the importance of environmental factors, social connections, and overall wellbeing in mitigating the risk of addiction. It demonstrated that addiction is not solely determined by the availability of addictive substances but is influenced by broader social and environmental contexts. The findings of the Rat Park experiment and my personal journey hits home the significance of addressing underlying emotional and social needs for successful recovery.
Rate cage number one was my small world of addiction, Rat park, cage number two, is my Big World, enriched with everything I needed to find and maintain recovery.
Are you ready to create your own Big World?
Book in a complimentary discovery call with me to find out.